Homeland Security offers new program to educate parents of online dangers

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The growing danger of online predators is getting new attention from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Predators are looking for children to exploit through social media platforms and even online games. Now, there is a new program from Homeland Security to educate parents about the dangers and ways to protect children.

The program is called iGuardian, and can provide HSI special agents to schools, churches and other venues to educate parents about internet dangers.

“The internet will introduce you to a world you may not be ready for,” said Pilar Joyner with Homeland Security Investigations.

She said conversations between predators and children can start with innocent conversation or chats.

“It may seem like a friendly conversation to build up your trust, just to see, make that person feel comfortable with who they are talking to and before you know it, it can be something simple like, send me a picture, I would like to see what you look like,” Joyner said.

She has direct tips for parents to tell their children.

“Don’t talk to anybody that you don’t know,” she said. “If it’s not a friend of yours, don’t speak to them. Don’t give out your phone number. Don’t send pictures online. Don’t give out your email online.”

Many parents are aware of the dangers from online apps or through cell phones, but there can also be predators seeking to talk to children through online games with the chat functions.

Many online games allow players to talk to each other in real-time.

“You have to be real careful with that, because that could be a way to lure young boys or young girls in because you might have a 30-year-old guy playing video games online from London with someone who’s 13,” Joyner said.

At Esports Players and Coding Club in Tampa, they teach children how to do more than just play games. They teach them the skills to build games.

“We know kids have a passion for video games,” Alex Matzkin said. “We like to teach them the backend skills that go into it, so we teach coding, programming and design, through video game design through platforms that kids love.”

They also teach internet safety and recommend parents know how to limit the chat functions within the games.

“The biggest thing is, every game now has privacy settings where you can turn off game chat altogether,” Matzkin said. “There is no game where it is required. They can still talk to their friends so they know exactly who they are playing with, but it really cuts out everybody else.”

This function must be changed in the game’s settings.

“It’s usually under the privacy settings, what would be called open chat, versus private chat or friends-only chat,” Matzkin said. “If you turn on friends-on.ly chat, then you know your kid is only going to be able to talk with someone who is on his friends list, that he knows pretty well.

Parents will also want to keep a close eye on the friends list to make sure it’s someone their child knows in real life.

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